Bloody Monday (ブラッディ・マンデイ -2008)

Starring:
Miura Haruma as Takagi Fujimaru (Falcon)
Kawashima Umika as Takagi Haruka
Newspaper Club
Sato Takeru as Kujo Otoya
Fujii Mina as Asada Aoi
Tokunaga Eri as Anzai Mako
Hisano Masahiro (久野雅弘) as Tachikawa Hide
THIRD-i
Tanaka Tetsushi as Takagi Ryonosuke
Matsushige Yutaka as Kano Ikuma
Katase Nana as Hosho Sayuri
Ashina Sei as Minami Kaoru
Yoshizawa Hisashi as Kirishima Goro
Nakahara Fumio (中原文雄) as Sonoma Takao
Kubota Masashi (久保田将至) as Kudo Akira
Anan Atsuko (阿南敦子) as Sawakita Miki
Kudo Shunsaku (工藤俊作) as Okita Koichi
Harada Kana (原田佳奈) as Nakagawa Saori
Saito Ayumu (斎藤歩) as Kamata Junichiro
Terrorists
Narimiya Hiroki as J (Kanzaki Jun)
Kichise Michiko as Orihara Maya
TET as Demon Joichi
Yamaguchi Ryuto (山口龍人) as Bluebird (Ando Ken)
Takito Kenichi (滝藤賢一) as Shirota Manabu
Taniguchi Shota (谷口翔太) as Kobayashi Daisuke
Nagakura Daisuke (永倉大輔) as Tanabe Ryo
Tsuneyoshi Rie (恒吉梨絵) as Arimura Nozomu
Abe Marie (安部魔凛碧) as Miyamoto
Tozawa Yasuaki (斗澤康秋) as Nishida
Kojima Koichi (児島功一)
Kaneko Takanobu (金子貴伸)
Officials and Police
Hamada Akira as Yasuoka Keitaro (Chief Cabinet Secretary)
Nakane Toru as Osugi Kenichi (PSIA Chief Director)
Kokubo Joji (小久保丈二) as Ikeda Katsuhiko (Chief of Detectives)
Ryu Raita as Kujo Akihito (Minister of Justice)
Hotaru Yukijiro as Detective Funaki
Ozaki Usoh (尾崎右宗) as Detective Iba
Others
Shimada Kyusaku as Kamishima Shimon
Jinbo Satoshi as Shikimura Sosuke
Nomaguchi Toru as Ishikawa
Saeki Arata (佐伯新) as Asakura
Namiki Shiro as Hikage Kiyoshi
Miyazawa Miho (宮澤美保) as Tominaga Kyoko
Yananaka Atsushi (山中敦史) as Kurosaki
Watanabe Shiho (渡邊志穂) as Murakami Anri
Takeshima Yasunari (竹嶋康成) as Sada
Mihara Iona (三原伊織奈) as Ishikawa Matsuko
Wada Satoshi (和田サトシ) as Yoshioka Keisuke
Seki Keisuke as teacher
Eguchi Noriko as Yasuda Yukiko
Oyamada Sayuri as Yamamura Yoko

After a biological terrorist attack kills off the population of a Russian town; Japan's Public Safety Special Third unit, code name THIRD-i, believes that the terrorist organization responsible plans to unleash the same virus known as Bloody X into Tokyo. Subsequently, THIRD-i recruits the help of genius hacker Takagi Fujimaru to find out what happened in the Russia. However, as Fujimaru becomes involved, he soon finds out that he is in over his head and that the terrorist groups influence reaches not only his school but even the police. Fujimaru must now rely on his skill as a hacker to unravel the organizations sinister plot and find out the truth behind "Bloody Monday."

I don't know if these are tears of joy or happiness. From episode 10 to the end, I have been a blubbering idiot. It's not like this was a sad drama. Well, it was but not like a melodrama. I cried because of the fear of betrayal for Fujimaru. I cried because I couldn't believe his best friend would be "K". Man, I was sick and jittery to the bitter end.

This is by far the best damn DRAMA I have EVER seen. This is now my ranked #1 drama at this moment. The script had me on pins and needles. I couldn't wait find out the outcome. And you know what? They left an opening for a second season. PLEASE SAY IT IS SO! I really didn't want this drama to end. My favorite young actors and older as well were in this drama. The character portrayals were perfectly matched by the actors and actresses who played them.........

This....God!....this was just wonderful. Okay, and I balled and boo-hooed at the very end because there was a sad but beautiful ending to this story. Can I go on living?

The plot twist in episode 10 had me hook. line and sinker. You never really know who we can trust and we we can't. But I was so totally pleased to know that Fujimaru's instincts were true.

Such a smart drama. I might have to watch this again. I might have missed something.........

Now I'll go hide in the corner and suck my thumb because I can't go on living without more episodes of this. Please....oh, please....I hope they make another season.

Damn! This rocked my world!

Yamada Taro Monogatari (山田太郎ものがたり -2007)

Starring:
Ninomiya Kazunari as Yamada Taro
Sakurai Sho as Mimura Takuya
Kikuchi Momoko as Yamada Ayako
Matsuoka Mitsuru as Yamada Kazuo
Oshinari Shugo as Sugiura Keichi
Fukiishi Kazue as Torii Kyoko
Otsuka Chihiro as Nakai Masami
Shibata Rie as Ikegami Maria
Musaka Naomasa as Ikegami Ryunosuke
Tabe Mikako as Ikegami Takako
Utsui Ken as Ichinomiya
Yoshizawa Hisashi as Ehara Makoto
Fukui Hiroaki as Osaki Shinosuke
Yamada Shintaro as Ando Masaki
Kojima Haruna as Usui Kotone
Takahashi Ryosuke as Okubo Shin
Ogata Sayaka as Kashiwagi Honoka
Yarita Akihiro (鎗田晟裕) as Yamada Jiro
Shimizu Naoya (清水尚弥) as Yamada Saburo
Muranaka Haruna (村中暖奈) as Yamada Yoshiko
Yoshida Riko as Yamada Itsuko
Shibuya Takeru as Yamada Mutsumi
Ayata Toshiki (綾田俊樹) as Isogai Shitsuji
Maro Akaji as Mimura Hijirichi
Nishida Naomi as Mimura Tsuyuko
Mizukawa Asami as Kotani
Yoshiyuki Kazuko as Ume
Ohno Satoshi (ep10)
Nekoze Tsubaki as House maid
Hankai Kazuaki (ep10)

Yamada Taro, a freshman on a scholarship at Ichinomiya Private Senior High School, is high-achieving, strikingly handsome, and truly athletic and seems perfect. But he is actually extremely poor. The story humorously portrays Taro, who tackles problems that occur because of his poverty, and his six younger brothers and sisters. --TBS

This was a cute drama. The first few episodes got me hooked. I loved the way it was set up to teach values that money isn't everything. Yeah, it's nice to have but it doesn't bring you all the happiness in the world.

Family. Yeah, that is where it is at.

But this was all fantasy. I can't think of any instance in real life that we would just give up a perfectly good mansion given freely. I understood the anxiety that Taro faced but I had gotten the impression that the smiles on the kids' faces was all that mattered.

I couldn't understand why his mother didn't work. Weak, they said. Whatever. She could work from home. Leaving all the hard work for Taro, a boy of 17-18, to deal with parental issues was unfair. That really bothered me. While the father traveled around the world, the mother didn't work, and Taro going to school, working, and maintaining the family. Something was wrong in this story.

I know they tried to make the family values, pride and morals come to life....and they did a good job of it.....but it was just hard to see any type of real issue.

Okay, I cried at the end. The kids were sooooo sweet and innocent and they tried to help out their big brother. I, for one, finally saw something that showed a human side in this family. The parents couldn't face up to it but the young kids saw the need to be equal in the household. Go Kids!!

I know I sound uncertain of this show. It had it's definite good points and bad points but I faced this show as a fantasy rather than reality and liked what I saw.

Oh, and did they beef up Ninomiya-kun later on because in the drama he seemed sort of dorkish but this same year he made Tokyo Tower with Jun-kun and he was looking rather hot! What gives?

And might I say that Sakurai Sho I think is my favorite Arashi member. He was just too cool for school.....hehe!

Sakurai Sho

Ummm? Hello baby!!!!

Ace wo Nerae!

Surprisingly this was really good. Actually this was reminiscent of the manga/anime Prince of Tennis!They should have named this the Princess of Tennis. LOL! With the exception that Oka Hiromi wasn't a tennis prodigy but trained hard and made the "big time". Where as Echizen Ryoma, was the tennis prodigy but had to prove himself to the top players that just because he was small didn't mean he wasn't talented. Anyway....that's a whole other review.

Ace of Nerae translated means "aim for the ace!" Oka Hiromi is our heroine. After watching Ryuzaki Reika play tennis, Hiromi wanted to play tennis. So she joins the high school tennis team with awful results. After encountering Munakata Jin several times, she discovers that he is in fact the new high school coach. And many of the team members don't like him because of his intense training. We learn later that the coach had set his "sights" on her and vowed to take her to the "top". To the dismay of the starters, the coach makes Hiromi one too. Teased, tormented, and bullied, Hiromi suffers her first year as a starter but vows to keep up the training to become strong. Coach wasn't the only one who set their "sights" on her. Todo Takayuki, a starter for the boys tennis team, has started to like her. But coach isn't too thrilled because their affection is affecting her play. Takayuki abides by coach's wishes and stays away so Hiromi can become the best player. The drama proceeds to show Hiromi's improvement as she works her way to the top. But coach is hiding something and to save Hiromi, he doesn't tell her.

I really like this. I guess because it was all about girl power. It was about overcoming adversity. It was accepting what we can and can't do and improving upon it. Let's just say it's uplifting and you won't be disheartened. *smiles*

I have to say I liked the character who played Todo Takayuki. Cutey patootey!
Yoshizawa Hisashi

I really look forward to seeing more from him. Second pic is my favorite.

Ishigaki Yuma

I'm a little peeved because I can't find any recent pictures of him! Eeergh! And if I did they were character pics. Eeergh! Anyway, I've seen him sooooo many times in the past few months because almost every show I've seen has him in it. LOL! Too funny. He's been in H2, Gokusen, WaterBoys, Engine, and Hana Kimi (and I've seen them all!)